Home video tapes can hold up to six hours of programming. On the other hand, most programs of interest, such as movies, that are taped with the intention to save for at least a month or more, may last between only one and three hours. Consequently, rather than leaving the rest of the tape unused, typically several nonrelated programs will be recorded on the same video tape, and at different times. Manual means must be used to keep track of what specific self-recorded programs are on each tape, and where.
One common indexing system provides for the video tape carton to have a table of contents format on one face, and another common indexing system provides for labels that can be stuck onto the video tape carton or directly on the video cassette. For either system, the person recording any program on the tape would have to list this program directly on the carton or on the stick-on labels.
However, human psychology generates a certain reluctance to write any indexing notation directly on the video tape carton or on a stick-on label, before the decision has been made to keep the recording. This decision cannot be made before reviewing the program. Moreover, since reviewing may be delayed until long after recording the program, many tapes end up in one's collection without any program indexing on them at all.
Known indexing systems thus seem to fail because of the human reluctance to use them in the first place, and/or consistently before or while the program is being recorded.